title: Exploring Electrophysiological Features of Pain in Freely Moving Mice
creator: Zhang, Jiaojiao
subject: ddc-570
subject: 570 Life sciences
description: Multiple brain regions are involved in pain processing, contributing to a complex pattern of neuronal activation in specific brain structures referred to as pain matrix. Activation of this system may lead to a specific pain signature which remains, however, to be identified. As a step towards this end, I recorded local field potentials from multiple brain regions of the mouse under different pain-inducing conditions to explore specific electrophysiological features of this state.  In a first series of experiments, acute pain was induced by capsaicin, and neuronal network oscillations were recorded from different relevant brain regions: primary somatosensory cortex (S1), the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), the ventral posterolateral thalamic nucleus (VPL), the posterior insula (Ins), the central nucleus of the amygdala (AMYG), the olfactory bulb (OB) and parietal cortex (PAC). Pain-specific alterations were most prominent in higher-order phenomena of neuronal network oscillations like interregional coherence. By selecting parameters from these multi-dimensional with logistic regression, acute pain states could be successfully classified in our data set.   As a second, methodological step, I constructed an apparatus for sensory testing of evoked potentials in freely moving mice. Using this custom built apparatus, evoked laser-light and mechanical stimulations were performed in both naïve mice and in mice with inflammatory pain. Enhanced peak amplitudes of evoked potentials were observed in multiple brain regions in different pain conditions, with specific and different patterns.    These results together reveal specific alterations of neuronal activity across brain regions, in different pain conditions. Although the mechanisms of pain processing in different types of pain may differ, they all share common sensory, affective and behavioral aspects. These lead to specific electrophysiological characteristics which may help shedding light on the mechanism study of pain, as well as to develop physiological markers for specific pain conditions.
date: 2020
type: Dissertation
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
type: NonPeerReviewed
format: application/pdf
identifier: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/28993/1/PhD%20thesis_Jiaojiao%20Zhang_AG%20Draguhn.pdf
identifier: DOI:10.11588/heidok.00028993
identifier: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-289939
identifier:   Zhang, Jiaojiao  (2020) Exploring Electrophysiological Features of Pain in Freely Moving Mice.  [Dissertation]     
relation: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/28993/
rights: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights: http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/help/license_urhg.html
language: eng